1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to cutting instruments and it deals more particularly, in the embodiment shown, with a hunting knife which may be used to kill and to dress wild game, usually employed by one person acting alone without assistance in the dressing operation.
When wild game, such as deer, antelope, and the like, are dressed in the field the hunter is usually alone and it is necessary for him to perform this task as expeditiously as possible. He is usually carrying a hunting knife which he must use in connection with freeing the game from a trap or in the preliminary preparation of the game for dressing. These knives are usually heavy, with large blades, and are not easily handled for delicate jobs. Therefore, when it is necessary to slit open the skin of the game for the purpose of eviscerating the animal it is often necessary to change to a smaller and more specialized knife for this very delicate operation. For this purpose, it is usually necessary that one have a slitting hook or blade in the form of an extra knife; under conditions where it is not easy to lay aside one tool and grasp another in the performance of the job.
In the foregoing situation, it would be advantageous for the hunter to have attached to his regular hunting knife a separate tool to perform the slitting operation. However, this should be so attached that it would not be necessary to lay aside the main hunting knife and pick up the additional tool in this connection. It is desirable that a limited incision be made just under the surface of the skin and the incision carried from one end of the animal to the other for the eviscerating operation. To this end, it would be a very great advantage to have a tool wherein the depth of the incision was limited.
There are also other types of uses for a slitting tool of the type described in many industries performed by manual labor. It is necessary for an operator to use a rather large cutting tool for most of the operations until he reaches a point where a small object must be cut or slit without the danger of making a deep cut into the surface of the object. This sometimes occurs in operations where a person is opening large cartons with the large blade or large cutting surface of an instrument; and then it becomes necessary to make an opening in the carton with a limited penetration below the depth of the surface to be cut such that one will not injure the contents of the carton. It can readily be seen that this is also a field in which an auxiliary cutting or slitting blade could be employed in connection with a knife containing a large main blade.
A transverse slitting motion is most advantageous where the cutting is being done on a hanging object.
No existing equipment embodying these advantages as stated has been known up until this present invention.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
After a competent search, no existing devices of the type which are shown in this invention were found, there being six references which were considered, but which do not appear to conflict with the present invention or anticipate either the apparatus or the object and purposes for which it was designed. The prior art discloses the following U.S. patents:
Robert E. Manning, U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,627 PA0 G. W. Anderson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,315 PA0 A. B. Aciego, U.S. Pat. No. 2,845,706 PA0 L. Walters, U.S. Pat. No. 2,376,887 PA0 H. E. Crum, U.S. Pat. No. 1,748,637
Manning discloses a spinner's knife which is adapted to a particular use in the textile industry for engaging yarns, threads and the like, to sever the same. The user engages a blade by actuating a projection with his thumb, pushing the blade from a recess inside the handle to a position forward where the same is used to cut in a transverse direction. The principle object of this invention is simply to provide a cutting hook which can be pushed forward from a handle and which will snap back into place when not in use. It does not apply to providing an auxiliary blade in connection with a primary knife.
Anderson discloses a hunting knife having two folding blades which is adapted to dress wild game in the field. The use of this type of knife does not suggest in any way the adaptation in the present invention. This knife has two folding blades and, if the knife were grasped in the handle portion with one blade open for the purpose of using this blade for primary cutting and the other blade were simultaneously opened, an inadvertent movement of the hand could close the auxiliary or slitting blade on the fingers of the operator. It is also obvious that there is no suggestion of any limited penetration of the slitting blade into the surface being cut other than the restraint of the person using the knife. This patent does not suggest in any way the present invention.
The patent to Aciego discloses a cutting tool which is primarily adapted for cutting linoleum. This consists of a series of multiple cutting surfaces on each side of the projecting shank. There is no limitation as to the depth of the cut or slitting action and this would not be adaptable to the hunting knife type of use as shown in the present invention. This invention has a more specialized type of use and does not suggest the present invention.
Walters discloses a package cutter, with a spring release blade adapted for slitting purposes. This is a hand held guarded knife which would not be adapted for hunting purposes and is further not adapted for any other purpose other than the slitting operation for which it is obviously designed. This does not in any way suggest the double blade, double featured knife of the present invention.
Crum discloses a safety knife for an electrician having a recessed reciprocating blade which comes forward from the handle. This invention has both of the cutting surfaces on the same blade and therefore there is no limitation to the amount of penetration of the blade other than that caused by the restraint of the operator. It has a specialized use and therefore does not suggest the broad use of a general knife with a slitting blade as disclosed in the present invention.
The additional patent considered in the prior art in this case was the following: A. A. Podjaski, U.S. Pat. No. 2,589,128.
This invention discloses an improvement in a roofing knife attachment for a claw hammer. This is another specialized use tool which deals with a hammer rather than a knife. However, assuming that the end which contains the hammer head contained the blade of a hunting knife, the point of the blade would probably be directioned along the axis of the handle. Even if this were a knife, and the slitting blade 19 was projected laterally as shown, the direction of cut would be co-axial with the direction of the handle and blade of the knife, thereby placing a portion of the hand of the operator against the surface being cut. This is exactly what is avoided in the present invention where the hand of the operator is out of the way and the cutting is done in a direction transverse to the axis of the handle. There is no suggestion in this patent of the present invention.